Not Alone
by Infamousplot
Summary: "You go on and on about being alone... You sit up here and mope all day, wishing you could meet another echidna so you won't have to be alone anymore... Knuckles, when are you finally gonna get it through your thick skull?" Sonic and Knuckles brotherly.


**This is a fic I've been working on for awhile... Special thanks to blazefirelightandcream for editing it for me ^_^ This takes place after Sonic Chronicles. I'm pretty sure Shade made it back with Sonic, but at first I thought she didn't, so this is where the idea spawns from. **

**Pairing: Knuxade, SonKnux family**

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><p><em>"Those words I want to say, the words you need to hear, why won't they just break free?"<em>

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><p>Fallen branches snapped violently beneath my feet as I stormed through the forest, navigating my way back toward the Shrine. It was a little after nightfall. I was on Angel Island, and -as usual -I was pissed.<p>

"Knuckles!" An annoyingly familiar voice belonging to an annoyingly familiar hedgehog called out from behind me, cut off by a branch no doubt thwapping him in the face. Now you know _why_ I was pissed.

"Knuckles, you can't ignore me forever!" Sonic crowed angrily, ducking through some foliage to appear behind me. I paused, shooting him a murderous glare, then picked up the pace -purposefully releasing yet another branch so that it got a clear shot at his face. There was a quiet 'Ow' and a mumbled profanity -most likely involving me -but I really didn't care.

"I thought I told you to leave me alone." I growled, refusing to look at the hedgehog. There was a soft chuckle, and I could sense him grinning.

"Oh good, so we're on speaking terms again?" I ignored the sarcasm -however light it was -in his voice and sped up. Supersonic or not, the blue blur sucked at traversing through the dense forest on Angel Island. "Knuckles, come on. You can't sulk up here forever." Sonic groaned. Pausing, something inside me snapped, and I whirled to face him, eyes flashing.

"Sulk? _Sulk?_ You call this _sulking?_" Sonic frowned, aware that he'd said something wrong. "Yes, Sonic, I'm sulking my days away up here like some poor distraught puppy. Let's see what you do when someone _you_ love dies!" I snarled, turning away and stomping off. Behind me was silence, and I felt a small note of pride for finally having silenced Sonic the Hedgehog, the one with never ending comebacks. For awhile, there were no footsteps behind me, and I was relieved at the thought that he'd left. Soon enough, though, they started up again, and with a furious sigh I pushed on.

It had been three months since we'd gotten back here and knocked Eggman off the top. Three months since we'd escaped the Twilight Cage after defeating Lord Ix... And exactly three months since we'd come to the realization that Shade had never made it back onto the ship... And that she was most likely dead on Nocturne. Three months since the girl I'd grown to love had been left behind, left for dead. To me though, it felt like forever.

Even though Shade and I hadn't known one another for very long... Well, the relation had been almost instantaneous. There hadn't been anything serious... Except for the fact that I loved her, and that now, I would never see her again. The thought made my entire being ache, and for a moment I just stopped moving. My eyes slid closed and I tried hard to banish her from my mind; a difficult task considering she'd been the only thing in there since the day I'd discovered she was an echidna.

"Okay... So maybe sulk was the wrong word." Sonic restarted from behind. Silently, I cursed his name.

"Will you just go away?" Despite the snarl in my voice Sonic was not intimidated, and he didn't move an inch. I turned to face him, hoping to convey my anger through my gaze, but my attempts remained ineffective. He sighed, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Clearly he had something he wanted to say, but it seemed like he wasn't quite sure how to word it.

"Knux... I know Shade was... Important to you." He spoke slowly, and I made note of how careful he was to avoid the strong word he really meant -'Love.' To say she was 'Important to me' seemed like the understatement of a lifetime. "I know that this has been really hard for you -It's been hard for all of us-" At that I cut him off.

"Shut up. Now." I seethed, fists clenching at my sides. "Don't you _dare_ say it's been hard for you. You have _no_ idea what it's like!" My voice rose high enough that it began to strain and I bit back to urge to keep shouting. If I started, who knew what would spill out of my mouth? Not even Sonic deserved to be subjected to those sorts of things.

Sonic's eyes narrowed impatiently.

"She was my friend, Knux." His muttered, voice quiet. "You don't think I miss her? You don't think we all do?" I could tell his teeth were gritted.

"Of course you miss her." I replied testily. I really had no patience for him right now. All I wanted was for him to leave so I could get back to the Altar. "That's different though, Sonic. You were her friend. I loved her." Sonic frowned, his gaze dropping just a bit. "She was the first echidna I'd ever met." My voice was soft, almost silent, but Sonic still managed to hear it.

"What's that got to do with anything, Knuckles?" Tensing, I looked away. "Are you saying you love her because she's an echidna? That's pretty shallow, man." Sonic crossed his arms in a rather irritated fashion.

"You don't understand..." I muttered angrily. How could I explain something like this to him? "I'm the last of my kind, Sonic. There are tons of hedgehogs out there, tons of foxes and bats -but look around! Do you see any other echidnas? Do you!" Snarling, I glared at the hedgehog. I expected some sort of snarky retort -heck, I _wanted_ one. Go ahead Sonic, I thought, give me a reason to knock you out.

"No." Sonic replied quietly, his tone and face unreadable.

"That's right. There _are_ no other echidnas, Sonic! I'm the last one -the _only_ one!" Rage coursed through my body, rage and sorrow and guilt -because it was my fault I was the last one. My fault because I couldn't save Shade. "Shade is dead now Sonic. _Dead. _If I'd just turned around, looked back, _something..._ Then she would still be here." There was a prickling sensation behind my eyes that I chose to ignore.

"That wasn't your fault, Knux." Sonic sighed, sounding almost exasperated. "If it was anyone's fault, it was mine. I was the one who was in charge, I should have been paying more attention-"

"It doesn't matter whose fault it is!" I roared. Instincts sent me flying at him but, in a flash of blue, he sidestepped and my fist lodged itself in the dirt and stayed there. Trembling slightly, I took a deep breath and pulled it free, refusing to look at Sonic. I'm not sure if it was out of contempt or just distrust in myself not to attack him, but either way, I wasn't making eye contact with him.

"Anyone can take the blame... But it won't bring her back." I muttered, my gaze boring into the ground. "No matter how many of us try and blame ourselves... She'll still be gone. And I'll... I'll still be alone." Those four words pierced through me like a blade. I was alone, again. The first echidna I'd ever met, and she was lost to me forever -trapped in another dimension and, most likely, dead.

"You idiot..." Sonic murmured behind me, sparking the good ol' flame of rage inside me as I whirled to face him. Instead of seeing his usual snarky grin, or even a look of contempt, I saw something caught between sympathy and exasperation.

"What'd you say?" I growled, muscles tensing as the urge to punch something -namely him -increased.

"I called you an idiot." Sonic replied tersely, crossing his arms. "You go on and on about being alone... You sit up here and mope all day, wishing you could meet another echidna so you won't have to be alone anymore... Knuckles, when are you finally gonna get it through your thick skull?" His voice raised sharply, and I nearly did a double take. Where did he get off scolding _me_?

"What are you talking about?" I snarled, muscles still tense. "What is it that you want me to get through my 'thick skull'?" Growling, I tried not to be too offended. But moping? I didn't _mope_...

"Knuckles... You aren't alone." Sonic sighed, his tone implying that this was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Again, look around. Do you see any echidnas?"

"Okay, okay! I get it! You are the last echidna!" Sonic cried, clearly exasperated. "I know that you spent a lot of your life on your own... And that you've always wanted to meet your own kind. But Knuckles... Just because you're the last of the echidnas doesn't mean you have to be alone." Sonic eyed me threateningly when I tried to speak, and for once I shut my mouth.

"You spend all your time up here because you choose to. You isolate yourself because you don't want to get attached to people. Then you go and say you're alone? Knuckles... What about us?" Sonic wasn't one for righteous fury, and I wasn't going to compare this to it, though if I had to, I'd say this was as close to it as Sonic would ever get. He looked and sounded pissed, though it wasn't in his place to be so. He wasn't the one getting told off when all he'd done was answer a stupid question. Still, he continued.

"Tails and Cream both look up to you. Tails always has your back, you know that. The moment I mouth off about you, Amy's on my case. And Rouge... Rouge _loves_ you, and if you'd only give her the time of day, then maybe you'd realize the only reason she keeps coming after the Master Emerald is so she can get your attention!" I cringed, unable to keep his gaze. I felt like a little kid getting lectured for doing something stupid.

"When I heard you'd been taken by the Marauders... I got back here as fast as I could. Do you know why?" Unable to lift my head, I shook it slowly, eying the ground in silence. "Because you're my friend. And if anything serious ever happened to you..." Sonic bit down on his sentence, the rest of the words not coming. Looking up, I saw them in his eyes, heavy little shadows in his gaze. I didn't want to admit it any more than he did, but if our places had been switched... I would have done the same thing. It felt strange to think it, and I couldn't imagine myself ever telling him -or anyone. I understood why Sonic would feel awkward saying it aloud, but then again... He didn't need to.

"Knuckles... I know you don't have a real family." He continued, his voice slow and awkward as he picked the lecture back up from where he'd left it. "Not many of us do. And as much as we'd like to, there's not much we can do about the echidna situation... But as far as the family department goes... " He shifted his weight from one foot to the other again, the words he wanted to but couldn't coming up now, "We've got you covered, man." Sonic grinned, albeit sheepishly, and I felt my heart start to swell.

_These guys... _Sonic and Tails; Amy, cream and Rouge... _My family..._ A smile pulled across my face, though reluctant, and I said to Sonic those same words that wanted to come up but couldn't, words I rarely said to anyone.

"Thank you... Sonic." The hedgehog grinned.

"Don't mention it, bro."

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><p><strong>I love my angsty little echidna. And my snarky hedgehog. Those two... They work so well with each other X3<strong>

**Please leave a review for me ^_^**


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